


now we have the freedom to feel

by lostnfound14



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Apologies, Canon Compliant, F/M, Fluff, Forgiveness, Love, Post-War, Rewrite of the final scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-09
Updated: 2020-09-09
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:08:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,859
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26375482
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lostnfound14/pseuds/lostnfound14
Summary: Trying his best to maintain eye contact, Aang began to drum the fingers of his left hand against the balustrade. He thought back to when he had kissed Katara before the invasion, so sure of the fact that she shared his feelings. He cringed at the memory, as it no longer held the rosy tint he had once seen it in. Now, it felt like it didn’t even deserve a place in his head, but even so, it refused to leave, like honey that stuck to his teeth no matter how many times he tried to remove it with his tongue.-On the balcony of the house in the Upper Ring of Ba Sing Se, Aang and Katara have a conversation.(Canon-compliant aside from the fact that this is a rewrite of the final scene of the show.)
Relationships: Aang/Katara (Avatar)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 44





	now we have the freedom to feel

**Author's Note:**

> heyooooo! so since it's a thing that everyone's doing, i just binged A:TLA over the course of a few days and i absolutely loved every second of it. it told a perfect story, from beginning to end. and to think, that of all scenes to dislike, i disliked the FINAL scene of the entire show?
> 
> let me explain. i loved aang and katara's love story so much throughout the show. the thing is, with all of the friction between aang and katara in the last few episodes (namely book 3 chapter 17, where aang messes it all up), i thought that it would be resolved in a tasteful, sensible way. instead, it seems that katara's able to forget it all and aang doesn't apologize for what he did.
> 
> and of course, i get it if you were to say "but it was so obvious that they liked each other." however, i think that it just would have made sense for them to make sure that they were completely on the same page and everything had been forgiven before they kissed.
> 
> SO. that being said, this piece is my interpretation of what would happen if the final scene had unfolded in the way that i just described. enjoy!

Ba Sing Se was truly a beautiful city. Aang had never taken the time to notice, since the last time he was here, he had been so focused on getting an audience with the Earth King that there wasn’t much of a chance to go sightseeing. Now, though, it felt like he had all the time in the world. He took in the domed ceilings of the buildings in the Upper Ring, pausing momentarily on the pagoda-style roof of the royal palace. He wondered what the Earth King was doing right now. Heck, how was Bosco doing?

The sound of light footsteps interrupted Aang’s train of thought, and somehow, he knew who it was before she even announced herself.

A few moments later, Katara joined him at the balustrade, resting a hand on it and looking directly at him.

A familiar shyness consumed Aang, forcing his gaze downward and his hands to clasp together, squeezing tightly. He still felt like he had to walk on eggshells around her, after he had messed things up between them six ways from Sunday. His hyperactive mind was already creating possible scenarios: the things that she would say, do, or even think, while they stood next to each other on the balcony. 

“Hey,” Aang greeted, trying to get a handle on his runaway mind. He could barely turn his head to acknowledge Katara.

“Hi,” she said, turning a few degrees away from him and following his gaze to the royal palace.

Aang resisted the urge to twiddle his thumbs. He wondered what he could say to make the air between them more comfortable than not.

His ears tuned in to the sounds of shouting coming from inside the house. Smiling, he asked, “What’s going on back there?”

He saw Katara smirk out of the corner of his eye. She leaned toward him, and almost reflexively, he blushed as she began to whisper conspiratorially in his ear: “ _Some_ people aren’t the biggest fans of Sokka’s drawing.” 

Trying to dispel some of the nervous energy that had been spurred by Katara’s closeness, Aang chuckled haltingly. “I’m sure it’s great,” he said.

She leaned away, and Aang blew a relieved puff of air out of the side of his mouth that she couldn’t see.

“You know,” Katara said, now mimicking his lean against the balustrade, “he drew the arrow on your head the wrong way?”

This time, Aang’s laugh was genuine. Leave it to Sokka to exceed his expectations for how silly he could be sometimes. “Really?” he asked. “I wouldn’t be surprised.”

Silence overtook the moment as Katara thought. Aang tried not to look at her, but it was getting harder and harder to resist the urge. She looked really pretty with the green kimono, not to mention the flower he had noticed in her hair _…_ Who knew she would look so pretty in Earth Nation clothes?

That was a rhetorical question. She would look pretty in any clothes. The real question, Aang supposed, was _Who am I kidding?_

“You know,” Katara said again, cutting off Aang’s thoughts once more, “you don’t have to worry so much about the future.”

It was almost scary, how easily she could see through him. Whenever he tried to distance himself from the group, with the sole intention of running away from his feelings, Katara was the first to go running after him, and coaxing the truth from him despite his flippant attitude.

Aang sighed, dropping his facade. “But there’s so much to think about,” he admitted. That was why he had stepped outside; his thoughts had felt too loud and too heavy for the happy and light atmosphere that had been cultivated inside of the house. “How are we going to make everyone trust the Fire Nation again?”

That thought had plagued Aang since the day of Zuko’s coronation. He trusted Zuko completely, of course, but it seemed that no matter how hard Aang tried, he could not let go of the need for some kind of greater purpose. The instant he had awakened from the iceberg, he had remembered that he was the Avatar, and it was his job to restore balance to the world. But did _restoring_ include _maintaining,_ or was he off-duty now that he had defeated Ozai? 

Ugh. There went his mind, always racing along at a mile a minute.

“I didn’t know they threw Zuko off of the throne that quickly,” Katara said, with a teasing edge to her tone. Those words were the ones that made Aang finally look fully at Katara. Her blue eyes were shining with mirth, and she was smiling down at her hands, which were clasped together over the edge of the balustrade.

“What?” Aang asked. He was sure he sounded dumb to Katara but, in his defense, he was a bit entranced by the way the sun shone in her hair and on her skin.

Still smiling, Katara began to explain. “What I mean is,” she said, “you don’t have to worry about that. Zuko will know what to do and what to say.” She paused, as if wondering whether to add something. “And, well, if his word isn’t enough, I don’t think there’s a single person in the world who won’t listen to you.”

Aang smiled. He hadn’t known how much he needed the reassurance that Katara still believed in him until she had made it known. She was the first person to believe in him, and the fact that that same belief hadn’t wavered, despite what he had done, filled Aang with a deep sense of relief. 

“Thanks, Katara,” he said quietly.

“Of course,” she replied, just as softly.

Silence reigned between them again, but thankfully, it didn’t feel as heavy as it did a few moments ago. Aang’s mind wandered to the things that he hadn’t had the opportunity to say yet. Indeed, he had a few things to admit if he hoped for their friendship to return to what it had been. Maybe she didn’t harbor the exact same feelings for him that he did for her, but Aang didn’t care about that as long as he could still have her as a friend. He didn’t want to lose her because of such a silly thing as his own childish self-interest.

“Katara…” he tried, wondering how to start.

“Hmm?” she urged.

Aang laughed nervously, the familiar discomfort taking over his mind again. He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. “I think I owe you an apology.”

Katara frowned. “What? Why?”

Trying his best to maintain eye contact, Aang began to drum the fingers of his left hand against the balustrade. He thought back to when he had kissed her before the invasion, so sure of the fact that she shared his feelings. He cringed at the memory, as it no longer held the rosy tint he had once seen it in. Now, it felt like it didn’t even deserve a place in his head, but even so, it refused to leave, like honey that stuck to his teeth no matter how many times he tried to remove it with his tongue.

“Because, I… I played with your feelings,” Aang finally said. “And I distracted you when we all should have been focused on getting ready to fight the Fire Nation.”

Katara blushed, clearly remembering those things too. “Oh,” she breathed.

Feeling more (less?) confident now, Aang pressed on. “I was so selfish, Katara. I tried to force my feelings on you because I was scared of what could have happened. Like, what if I died fighting the Fire Lord? I—”

“Aang,” Katara interrupted, still blushing, but with a harder edge in her voice now. Oh. He’d been rambling, hadn’t he. “I get it. You know, in the middle of all of the craziness…” she paused. She was probably wondering how to phrase what she wanted to say next.

“Yeah?” Aang said, urging her to speak.

“There were a few times where I forgot that we were still kids,” she admitted.

Aang frowned. That was unexpected. “What do you mean?” he asked. 

Katara sighed, like she was exasperated. Admittedly, Aang was pretty slow on the uptake. “What I _mean_ is,” she said, “kids do stupid things. Me making a split-second decision to chase after the man who killed my mother, that was stupid. You getting jealous over some unrealistic play, that was also stupid.”

Katara never held her sharp tongue, whether she was being kind, or mean, or honest, or lying. That was something that Aang had admired about her since the day they met. The hope that had filled his heart when she described the play as "unrealistic" was quickly forgotten when he remembered the first part of what she had said. He could definitely agree with the second part of what she had said, but he wouldn’t call what she had done _stupid._

“That wasn’t stupid of you to do,” Aang argued. “It was a lesson you had to learn.”

Katara sighed. “It was still a pretty hare-brained scheme.” She glanced at the city that sprawled before them, then returned her gaze to him. “You’re missing the point, anyway,” she said. “You had a lot of pressure on you, Aang. It’s okay to slip up a few times.”

Aang scrunched his eyes shut for a moment, trying to think of what words he could use to accurately express how sorry he was, then opened them. “But what I did was still _wrong_ , Katara. Whether I’m still a kid or not, that doesn’t excuse it.” 

Katara chuckled. “Well, if it will give you peace of mind…” she said, her smirk turning into a small, honest smile, “I forgive you, Aang.”

Aang tried not to let his jaw drop _too_ far. “Really?”

She took a step toward him. Suddenly, they were so close together that Aang could count the number of barely-noticeable beauty marks that trailed her hairline. (There were three.)

“Yes. I forgive you,” she repeated, leaning down ever closer to him, “and more.”

Their faces were inches apart now, and Aang could only manage to look between Katara's startling blue eyes that were accentuated by the vibrant green of the kimono she wore. He stammered, reddening slightly, unsure of how to respond to her sudden boldness. 

Finally, Katara took mercy on Aang, silencing his stammer with the soft pressure of her lips against his. He breathed in the scent of her, feeling soothed by her presence now instead of alarmed. She tasted like the bad tea that Zuko had made for them earlier, claiming that he knew his uncle's recipe like the back of his hand. Aang didn't have a problem with it at all, though. In fact, when Katara pulled away a bit too soon for his liking, Aang chased after her lips with his and kissed her again. He didn't even realize what he had done until she giggled against his mouth, but kissed him back anyway.

The dead silence from inside of the house should have been the giveaway, but it wasn’t until Aang and Katara returned indoors that Sokka broke it, red-faced and grinning deviously.

“ _Finally!_ ”

**Author's Note:**

> thank you so much for reading! i hope that you enjoyed this. if you did, do leave kudos or a comment!


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